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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Marketing Calls to Churches

I am constantly amazed at the number of phone calls I get to the church from people trying to sell something and trying to make me feel guilty for not buying it.

Today, I received a call from some marketing outfit in the DFW area. They were selling "spirit t-shirts" for the cheer squad at Wagoner High School. They said we were given the privilege of being the only church offered to be on these quality t-shirts. They said that for the low, low price of only $370, we would have the privilege of supplying 3 dozen t-shirts for the cheerleaders to give away to the student body. In case you are math challenged, that's ten bucks a shirt.

I asked how many companies were being given the privilege of supplying t-shirts to the cheer leaders. She said they had asked for nearly 400 t-shirts. FOUR HUNDRED SHIRTS at ten bucks a pop!

I commented that it seemed like that was a pretty good profit margin for their company and, of course, she told me about all the expenses that went into producing these quality t-shirts. I told her that I thought it didn't sound too good to me and that I thought I would pass. She then asked me if I could recommend another business or church that could fill this order. I was polite, but I told her that I didn't think this was a good deal for any business or church and that I wouldn't recommend any.

She told me to "have a blessed day", but you could tell she didn't really mean it.

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I get marketing calls every day. Some are from companies promoting discipleship programs. Some are from camps promoting themselves. Some are from singing groups looking for bookings.

3 comments:

No is a magical word. We got a call about calendars and that we were the only church to be listed on the calendar. I would not commit and she said she would call back. She didn't and I breathed a sigh of relief. Too bad we can't get on a "do not call" list. Either that or they think churches are like a big piece of cheese.

Our pastor got a call a few years back from one of the TV evangelists. The caller said if he would plant a 'seed' gift with them for $100 God would multiply it and our pastor would get $1000 back from God. Our pastor said "sounds like you need the money more than I need it. Tell you what; you send ME $100 and God will multiply it and give YOU $1000. They hung up on our pastor